Monday, May 26, 2008

The Rams have seriously been trying to change things since the '07 debacle. Beginning from the top all the way down to the lowest man on the totem pole. And this is a good thing. It shows that the organization is serious about trying to produce a product that the fans in St. Louis will want to come and see play.

But have the Rams been set up to fail? The NFL has dished them out a schedule you would think would have gone to a team that made it to the playoffs last year, or at least to a team that had some semblence of a winning record. Yet, it was given to a team with a 3-13 record and the #2 draft pick in the NFL draft.

The first half of the season is simply grueling.

Eagles

Giants

Seattle

Bills

Redskins

Dallas

Patriots

Cardinals

On paper it would look like we might only walk away with 1 or 2 wins the first half of the season. I'm not saying they can't beat any of these teams, but on paper it looks gloomy, it looks ominous, it looks plain old scarey!

And to make matters worse in St. Louis, the fans and the city know that soon they will have to be flipping the bill for either major improvements at the Ed or build a whole new stadium. Since this is what they promised the team when they enticed them to move to St. Louis. So the natives are not only restless but getting very grumpy. Guess they should have thought of that before dangling that carrot out in fron of the Rams organizations noses!

Even though it's the promises of the city of St. Louis, that's not going to stop the fans from becoming outraged the moment there's signs of more trouble with the Rams, like heading for another losing season and if that turns out to be the case, the idea of having a huge tax burden thrust upon them to keep the team in town, may not sit too well with those who live there.

I love this team, have since I was a child and I hate seeing them in a situation where they are set up for failure, but unfortunately that can be the beast of the NFL. It's an ugly business, let's just hope that it doesn't get any uglier for the Rams!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Just when we the fans think we've put Bruce behind us, or at least pretend to have done so, along comes Holt who finally breaks his silence on the Bruce issue.

Just when we think that perhaps we can move on, along comes Holt expressing the loss of his long time friend and mentor.

Perhaps his silence about the situation for so long helped the fans move on, but with the truth being known and now felt it just may reopen the wound the Rams organization gave most of us with their unwillingness to work something out with Bruce to have him retire a Ram.

It's obvious the lack of respect the organization actually showed Bruce by their unwillingness to do something for him, especially since they bent over backwards for Marshall Faulk, and I'm not trying to take away from that, Faulk deserved it, but so did Bruce if not more so. Was he not just as instrumental in bringing that championship home to us as Faulk?

And this is one of the things that has Torry's heart uneasy. And why should it not be? If the loyalty they showed or lack there of for Bruce is so glaring, why would Torry believe that it won't be the same for him as he quickly approaches the possibility of the end of his career with the Rams. He too faces the reality that he may not be able to retire a Ram either.

At one time in his career he probably had no doubts this was where he would end his career, but things have changed around him and inside of him. There's something missing deep inside of Torry now and it's apparent when he actually considers the fact that he could end his career elsewhere. And his choice would be Carolina, his home.

Will the pain of losing Bruce affect Holt's committment to the team, will he allow his feelings towards the front office affect his performance on the field? As fans, we would hope not. But the loss of Bruce may be running deeper than any of us may have imagined.

Let's hope the unrest in Torry's heart does not lead to unrest on the field. Let's also hope that the unrest in his heart sends a message to the FO that although it's a business, it's not always a wise business move to throw away a good product to try something new.